


...and we were barely dressed

by Flamingbluepanda



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gordon Ramsay - Freeform, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Soft Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, WOO, philosophical conversations, under the stars, with ice cream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28038840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamingbluepanda/pseuds/Flamingbluepanda
Summary: Scenes from the Mercer Safehouse, Arizona, a Vauge and Happy time in the future
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 8
Kudos: 191





	...and we were barely dressed

**Author's Note:**

> So the absolutely fabulouse cecil made some AWESOME [Art](https://luminarai.tumblr.com/post/637213379099017216/its-very-cold-and-dark-outside-right-now-so) and then said I could make a fic out of it! And I thought Oh, yes, a cute little fic on a tired Saturday when I struggled over homework all day. 
> 
> and then it grew to like two thousand words and sprouted a plot and emotions. go figure. 
> 
> Title is from paradise by the dashboard light by meatloaf!!! Dedicated to cecil, thank you for fettuccini the cat.

Nicky loved the sofa at the Mercer Safehouse.

It was huge, for one thing. Extra-wide and covered in both pillows and a tan couch cover that was so worn in it was soft as velvet. 

The sofa was, notably, the only nice thing about the Mercer safehouse. The Mercer safehouse (dubbed the Murder safehouse by Joe and later Nile) was a two-room  _ shack  _ in the Arizona badlands, with only the sofa, a creaky bed, a well for water, a television, a postage stamp of a kitchen in the corner, and a single unspeakably filthy latrine out back. Somehow Booker had finagled this TV into receiving cable, although Nicky had no idea how. He had a feeling the Mercer safehouse had either had squatters or gotten listed on Airbnb because when Nicky and Joe had arrived the day before, there had been used condoms that  _ certainly  _ weren't theirs. 

They hadn’t put too much thought into it, exhausted as they were. The day before Joe and Nicky were burned in the middle of an undercover mission, had driven across two states to get here with strict orders to keep hidden until someone came to get them. 

They’d stumbled in, weary and tired from healing from a short torture session followed by the 37-hour drive. 

Nicky had barely been thinking as he changed the sheets. Joe had grumbled curse words in Arabic as he brushed his teeth and scrubbed the grit out of his hair at the kitchen sink. They’d thrown open the windows and collapsed into bed. 

That was 12 hours ago. Joe had been so dead asleep that he hadn’t even twitched when the heat forced Nicky out of the stuffy bedroom into the main room and settled on the couch. 

He wore only a loose T-shirt and a pair of Joe’s roomier shorts. They had no reception, and Nicky was in fucking  _ paradise.  _

Between Merrick, Training Nile, Quynh’s comeback, and everything that had come after, he and Joe hadn’t stayed in one place for more than a few weeks- and even then they were work work working. Nicky loved their job, loved helping people, but he’d watched someone rip out Joe’s  _ teeth  _ yesterday so yeah, lounging on the couch two hours deep into a hell’s kitchen rerun marathon was pretty nice.

He’d met Gordon Ramsay once, and gotten a signed cookbook and a compliment on his knife skills. This show was fucking hilarious. 

He was watching him chuck a plate of risotto in the trash when he heard a thump from the bedroom and smiled. He picked his head up just in time to see Joe stumble out of the bedroom, rubbing fiercely at one eye and wearing only a wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of bright red shorts that read  _ enemy of the state  _ on the ass.

“So that’s where we left those,” Nicky mused aloud, and Joe made a muffled groan that sounded like a cat as he shoved his feet in his shoes and went out to the latrine. Nicky chuckled, propping his chin over the edge of the couch to watch his thighs flex. 

Mm. Having a few weeks alone would be nice for another reason too, but not today. 

Nicky’s head thumped back on his pillow as he turned back to the TV. He was yelling at the blue team now, and Nicky didn’t blame him, he would’ve fired anyone who cooked like that in  _ his  _ kitchen. 

The door creaked as Joe came back in, scratching at his belly and smacking his lips as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. They’d been smart enough to stock up on enough groceries to last them a month and a half on the way in, and Nicky idly hoped they’d use them all.

Joe came over and shoved one of Nicky’s legs off the couch, crawling on top of him and burying his face in Nicky’s chest. 

Nicky blinked, then glanced at him. “Are you okay?”

_ “Mmuh,  _ fuck.” Joe grumbled, scooting upwards until he was pressed against Nicky’s neck and grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch to put it over him. Nicky squirmed, extracting his left arm and left leg until they were exposed to the air. He rested his hand on Joe’s ass, sighing. 

“Hey, bedhead, how are you not dying from heatstroke?” Nicky asked three episodes later, poking Joe’s side. Joe just grumbled something against his neck and Nicky sighed, rubbing a knuckle into Joe’s lower back. He got sore down there a lot, probably from a lifetime of bending over canvases and books and Nicky’s body in bed. Joe hummed again, softer and half asleep. 

Nicky was overheated and he had a crick in his neck. Joe was crushing everything from his ribs to his dick, and Nicky would sooner kill Andy himself than ask him to move.

Eventually, Joe picked his head up, blinking blearily down at Nicky. “How long did I just sleep for?”

“Long enough for your morning breath to be nuclear,” Nicky responded, not looking away from the tv. Joe blew a hot breath across Nicky’s face, and Nicky swatted his ass playfully, making Joe giggle. 

He didn’t sigh in relief when Joe finally climbed off of him, but it was a close thing.

* * *

Apparently, the food network was having some sort of Gordon Ramsay marathon, because that’s what they watched for the rest of the day and well into the night, eating cup ramen on the sofa and only realizing they’d completely wrecked their sleep schedules when they watched the sunrise yet again. 

“It’s not my fault,” Joe insisted as they padded back to bed. “You’re  _ supposed  _ to sleep during the day, Nicolo, remember?”

“Unfortunately, your lectures on desert safety have faded from my memory, my love.” Nicky scrunched his nose up, “Not that I could’ve translated them from the original tounisi at the time.”

“Tounisi didn’t exist yet, Nicolo.” Joe pouted at him as Nicky climbed into bed and Joe stripped. “You’re sleeping with clothes on?”

Nicky opened his mouth, closed, it, then muttered “good point” and tossed his clothes on the floor with Joe’s. “We can’t live in those shorts y’know.”

“Why not,” Joe asked as he climbed in alongside Nicky. “No one’s around and we don’t have a shower.”

“We didn’t have showers the  _ last  _ time we were stuck in a desert together either.”

“I can’t believe you don’t remember the desert safety lecture,” Joe said, shaking his head in wonder,  _ “I  _ remember the desert safety lecture and I got it twenty years before you did.”

“I’m sure your father was a great man-” Nicky yawned, “but from how many of his lectures you remember I’m impressed by his method of terrifying his children.”

“I inherited his way with words,” Joe said dryly, then frowned. “Do you mind if I read? I’m not tired.”

“After your 16-hour sleep? I’m not surprised.” He glanced at the sliver of sunlight peeking in the door. “Do you want to turn on a light or go out there or-”

“I’ll just use a flashlight.” Joe scooted down and wrapped an arm around Nicky’s shoulders so Nicky’s head was pressed against his shoulder. “Go to sleep, I’ll wait till you’re out.”

“No, no-” Nicky grabbed the book and flashlight off the nightstand. “Read to me?”

Joe kissed the top of his head, balanced the light on his shoulder, and opened the book to page one. 

“The Hounds of Baskervilles, chapter one. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, except on those rare occasions…”

* * *

When Nicky woke up Joe was sitting on the porch, munching on pretzels and drawing the sunset in reds and purples. The fading rays caught in his hair, making the black gleam bronze. Nicky padded over, crouching down to kiss the crown of his head before settling behind him. His bare legs burned a little on the hot porch but the sand had worn the wood smooth. His knees were bent, the left side of his legs laying against the porch. He gently scratched to the right of Joe’s spine and Joe hummed, rolling his shoulders. 

“Little higher?” He asked, and Nicky moved up, brushing his thumb over one of the spots where he got stabbed. 

“All healed?” Nicky asked. He was mostly teasing, but it never hurt to ask. He had a feeling Joe wouldn’t have slept so much if he was still hurt.

“Yeah,” Joe sighed, rolling his shoulder again. “Your wrists?”

Nicky slid an arm around his shoulder and Joe kissed the blue veins, feeling his pulse thrumming against his lips. “All better.”

“Mm,” Nicky kissed the back of Joe’s neck, tugging on his collar until he could nip at the juncture between neck and shoulder.

There was no Gordon Ramsay that night, but with no one around, there was plenty of shouting. 

* * *

They climbed up to the roof at about two am to look at the milky way and eat ice cream.  They were covered in a thin sheen of sweat and if they were mortal they’d both be covered in bites. It was unbearably hot, and they sat on the edge of the roof in just their shorts. 

Nicky watched Joe stare up at the sky with the stars themselves in his gaze, and suddenly he blurted “I wish we could stay here forever.”

Joe looked at him, surprised for a moment. Then he snorted, rolling his eyes. “You’d get bored.  _ I’d  _ get bored.”

“Malta then,” Nicky said, taking a bite of his mint chip. “Just us in our house, making love and watching TV and reading and-”

“I see I didn’t fuck the contemplativeness out of you.” Joe set his ice cream down. “Babe, are you okay?”

Nicky shook his head. “I’m- I’m  _ fine,  _ really, it’s just… we’ve been run off our feet and I guess I just…”

Joe’s brow furrowed, and he touched Nicky’s arm. “Do you want a break? We can  _ go  _ to Malta, stay there for a while? Anything you want.”

“No, I-” Nicky sighed. “Do you never think about it? Us, together, not… not working?”

“You want to stop working?” Joe’s eyebrows flew upwards in surprise. He had more emotion in those two streaks of hair than Nicky had in his whole face, but he forgot about them when Joe cupped his face. 

“Nicolo, really, you’re starting to scare me now.” He said, sweeping his thumbs across Nicky’s cheekbones. “Are you- is everything okay? Are you upset about something? You’re not-”

Joe’s breath picked up in pace, and he almost fearfully looked at Nicky’s neck. “You’re not  _ hurt-?” _

“No!” Nicky’s hands flew up to Joe’s wrists, shaking his head. “No, no, I- sorry, this isn’t coming out right, I’m not hurt, I promise.”

“You’d tell me?” Joe was panicking now, and Nicky felt a stab of guilt. “You’d tell me if you-”

“Of  _ course.” _

“Because Andy didn’t-”

_ “Yusuf,”  _ Nicky said, shushing him. “It’s okay, I’m okay.”

Joe looked at him for a long moment, then swallowed and said “tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing,” Nicky insisted softly. “Really. I’m just- I’m happy, being here with you. I’m happy with you wherever we are.”

“... But?”

“But,” Nicky sighed, “not having anyone around, no missions, no danger… it’s like a dream.”

“I mean, technically we’re on the run from a surviving family of the international crime lord that we killed. Which I'm glad we did since he trafficked teenage boys.”

“Except that part,” Nicky said, sighing. “I just- I was thinking about if he  _ were  _ mortal if we  _ did  _ just… stop.”

“Well of course we’d stop.” Joe frowned. “Assuming we didn’t die on the battlefield. I’m an accommodating fellow, but I’m not interested in holding your guts together, so unfortunately as soon as you become mortal I’m dragging you away from your sniper rifle by your ears.”

“An accommodating fellow.” Nicky rolled his eyes. “Right. No, it’s the same for me, I don’t want to watch you get hurt. I guess I just… sometimes, I worry that we might get bored with one another, someday, and then!”

He said this last part quickly before Joe could freak out. Nicky’s eyes softened, and his smile grew tender. 

“And then we end up somewhere like this where it’s just us two, stripped to our literal bare essentials, and I remember.”

“Remember what?”

“That you’re the only thing I have needed or will ever need.” Nicky shrugged, taking another spoonful of his now melty ice cream. “I can’t get bored with you here. Conversely, I could stay here until that star right there blows up.”

He gestured vaguely with his spoon at one star, far off and possibly exploding right now. Nicky looked back at Joe, at his guiding star. “So. I wish I could stay here forever. In two weeks when we’re back in the thick of it I’ll want to stay there forever too, as long as you’re there.”

“Then we are lucky,” Joe said, voice thick with emotion, “that we get to have forever.”

“Very lucky,” Nicky agreed, letting Joe pull him into a hug.

They looked up at the sky, as infinite and wonderful as their love. They smiled. 

And then, with a dramatic sniffle, Joe pronounced “you need to warn me when you’re going to do that! I’m absurdly romantic all the time, you know it's coming! I get  _ no _ prior warning!”

Nicky burst out laughing, snuggling closer to his husband, glad to stay there.

* * *

In the end, it took two whole months for the team to come for them. As they collected their stuff, Nile snorted at their packed bags. “Sick of one another already?”

Nicky and Joe shared a look, thinking of their food fight a week ago and their intense real housewives marathon where they almost broke the TV. 

“Yup,” Nicky lied. Joe put a hand to his heart as if struck, and Nile rolled her eyes at them. “Just say you love each other and let's go, you two.”

“How did they get _grosser_ while I was gone,” Quynh bemoaned for the 23rd time, and Joe gave Nicky a kiss that made a wet smacking sound. 

“What can we say? We have to keep the romance alive somehow!” Nicky called, and Andy stuck her head out the window, shouting “if you don’t get in the car I’m leaving your asses here!”

They almost lingered, just to see if she would.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr! www.flamingbluepanda.tumblr.com
> 
> Cecil!!!! www.luminarai.tumblr.com
> 
> I love you! Stay safe!


End file.
